Private's Private (And Non-Private) Adventures
by Anonymous385611
Summary: {Takes place just after the movie} Just because the four penguins are back home at the zoo doesn't mean the adventure stops there. Not only are there more trials to come, and new problems to face, Private must learn to face strange new feelings and battle conflicting emotions. He'll soon see there are many different ways to explore life, penguin or not. [Humanization later on]
1. Chapter 1

**~A/N~ _Hey guys! This is the first chapter to my first PoM chapter-story! So, please, be open-minded, because to be honest I'm still getting used to writing about penguins considering I haven't before. Haha, oh well. Reviews would be much apreciated, and ideas as well concerning events and what kind of scenarios they could all face. I have some ideas, but I definitely need more! Anyway, here it is, and I hope you'll enjoy. The second chapter shouldn't take too long to write. It will probably be posted here tomorrow. Thanks :)_**

* * *

When the four penguins returned to HQ, they received warm welcome from many of the zoo animals- especially Julien, who insisted on throwing them a welcome back party. Skipper tried to refuse, but of course, Julien threw one anyway, and the penguins felt obliged to show up.

Private left the party early and returned to HQ, where he flopped down on his bed with a sigh, staring up blankly. There had been far too many prodding questions about his pink feathers and newly sprouted antlers at the party.

Kowalski had tried to reassure him that in due time, Private's appearance would revert back to normal, but the young penguin wasn't so sure. He rolled onto his side -

_crunch_

He sighed. With no success, he tried to pull himself up off the bed, but his antlers were lodged firmly in the material of his bed, not wanting to come out. He gave up eventually and lay there angrily.

Finally, he closed his eyes and drifted off into a quiet sleep.

When he awoke, Skipper stood over him with a highly questioning look. Private's face flushed in embarrassment. "H-Hullo, Sk-Skipper," he stuttered, avoiding eye contact.

"What happened to you?" He asked incredulously. "Never mind, I don't want to know." Instead of prodding further, he firmly gripped Private's flipper and around his waist, yanking his body upwards in an attempt to dislodge him from the unfortunate position.

Private squealed in discomfort, and a ripping sound filled the room as his antler shredded through even more of the fabric. "Hang on there," Skipper grunted. "Let me just-"

With a crash, the two penguins toppled onto the ground, panting and staring at the bunk in apprehension.

Private giggled nervously and eyed Skipper out of the corner of his eye. Skipper smiled slowly and stood up, waddling over to the bed and examining the whole. "I'll just get one of the others to sew that back up," he murmured to himself, wedging a flipper inside of the hole to assess the damage.

Private followed him and asked, "Where are the other two?"

"Still at the party," Skipper confirmed before turning to face Private. "I see you left early too."

Private nodded. "Y-yes sir." Skipper raised his brow and nodded slowly, unsure of what to say.

"They should be back soon," he told Private. "I'm going to sleep." Private watched as Skipper retired to his bunk and huddled there, closing his tired eyes.

Although he too felt worn out from their mission, Private was too wide awake to want to go to bed, so he decided to go outside. But first, he grabbed his diary from underneath his pillow. As he sat down outside and opened up the small book, he felt a twinge of curiosity to see what his last entry had been before their mission.

Sure enough, by the end of the entry, his face was glowing pinker than it already was. He had forgotten about his crush on Kowalski...and he wasn't even sure if still had it. Maybe not, he told himself. After all, he had watched him swoon relentlessly over Eva, and it hadn't affected him in the slightest. However…

He looked up just in time to see the aforementioned penguin approaching him by the entrance to the HQ. "Oh- H-hullo Kowalski." Private stammered, his face becoming even more flushed.

Kowalski stopped in front of him and nodded. "Hello, Private," he greeted, his face blank.

"I-Is Eva here?" Private asked him, fidgeting with the diary in-between his flippers. Kowalski's face seemed to fall for a few moments.

"Uhm...no..she isn't. Why do you ask?" He said, blinking repeatedly at Private in confusion.

"Oh...Uh- no reason," Private responded hurriedly. "Just, just curious, that's all."

Kowalski nodded. "Alright. Well, don't stay out here too long. It's cold, and we don't know yet how your transformation will affect your immunities. Besides, I can't do testing on you while you're inflicted with illness. Goodnight." With that, he left Private's sight to go underground.

The small penguin sighed. _Yup, _he thought, _Definitely still like him._

He didn't have anything with him to write with, so he closed up his book and decided to wait until morning to write in it again. He shuffled back into HQ and waddled over to his bed. _Looks like I'll have to sleep on my back_, he realized with slight disappointment. Reluctantly, he settled down to sleep before closing his eyes and drifting off.

* * *

When Private awoke the next morning, everybody else was already up. He carefully pulled himself up off the bed, trying to avoid damaging it further. It had been very awkward to sleep in that night, considering the huge hole near the pillows. He had needed to shift around a lot throughout the night, trying to achieve a somewhat comfortable position.

He yawned, stretching out his soft flippers behind him, and wandered over to the others, who were huddled in a circle examining something.

It turned out that something they were examining happened to be Rico. He was slumped over on the ground, completely passed out. Meanwhile, Skipper was giving Kowalski a terse lecture.

"I told you we can't leave Rico alone at a party," he criticized. "You know he gets like this! Especially at Julien's parties!" He turned around and stalked off with an angry huff.

Private waddled over to Kowalski and Rico; the former which had a guilty look plastered on his face as he stared down at the unconscious Rico.

"What happened, Kowalski?" Private asked curiously, still rubbing his eyes tiredly.

Kowalski sighed and shook his head. "Stupid me. I left him alone at the party last night...and well, he had a bit too much...if you know what I mean."

Private furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

Kowalski eyed him and replied. "I mean, he consumed too much alcoholic beverage."

Private nodded, although he still wasn't quite sure of what he meant. Skipper returned to the trio lugging a bucket of ice cold water, and motioned for Private and Kowalski to move. He released the bucket, and it toppled over to pour it's contents all over the sleeping penguin.

With a loud squawk, Rico shot up, eyes wide, and looked wildly around the room, a single cube of ice still sitting on top of his head. He blinked in confusion when he saw the others, and his eyes showed realization as his gaze landed on the now empty bucket, and he muttered something incomprehensible.

Private could already tell it was going to be a long day.


	2. Chapter 2

**~A/N~ _Hullo there! Here is the second chappie of my little (well) story. Uhm, not really much for me to say here. Hope you enjoy, thank you for reading, and please review!_**

* * *

"Analysis, Kowalski."

"Well, sir, it appears that this injection hasn't done anything right either. It seems to be we may need something to channel the same sort of adorableness used from Private when he saved all the penguins."

"Oh, Skippah, it hurts," Private whined, tears glistening in his sky blue eyes. Skipper looked at the smaller penguin, who was clutching the bandaged spot with his flipper where Kowalski had just inserted a needle (for the third time).

Skipper's brow furrowed and he gently rubbed Private's cheek. "Oh, come here." He wrapped his flippers around him in a comforting hug, and said, "You're just so adorable." Private blushed slightly and giggled a little.

After a few moments Skipper pulled away and turned to Kowalski. "Right," he said, returning to normal, "Kowalski, one more try, and after that no more testing for today. Private needs his rest." Kowalski nodded and scribbled something on a clipboard.

Rico, of course, happened to hobble into the laboratory at that exact moment. "Rico," Skipper barked, "What did I tell you about disturbing the testing process?!"

Before anybody could say anything else, Rico proceeded to start gagging, and the others waited to see what would come out. A few seconds of heaving and hacking produced a small brown ball of fur with huge orange eyes. "H-hi!"

"Mort!" Kowalski exclaimed.

"Yes! Perfect!" Skipper added, "Thanks Rico! Mort is just what we need. Adorable enough, I suppose. Right Kowalski?"

"Right." Kowalski nodded and scribbled something else down. "Okay, come here Mort." He carefully plucked a tuft of fur and mixed it in with the previous injection. "Okay," he said, "Here we go."

Private gulped and looked away as Kowalski walked towards him with a needle. "Sk-Skippah," he whimpered nervously. Instinctively, Skipper clutched Private's flipper with his. Private wasn't quite as unfazed by this action as he was.

Kowalski slowly slid the needle into a spot near Private's hip, and watched as pinkish purple liquid flowed easily into the penguins veins. Meanwhile, Private was tightly clutching onto Skipper's flipper, who just watched nonchalantly.

Finally, Kowalski removed the needle and everybody stared at Private. At first, there was no change, until, in a split second, the large, hulking antlers shimmered and disappeared without a trace. "Has it 'appened?" Private asked them, looking around expectantly. They all waited further but his pink-tinted feathers remained the same. When nobody said anything, Private whispered hesitantly, "A-analysis?"

Kowalski blinked and looked at Private, gulping. "Well, it appears that this injection….worked halfway. The most obtrusive part of your mutation has gone away. Your, er, antlers, that is. However, you still look rather..._pink." _

_"_I-Is that a bad thing?" Private asked.

"Yes."

Skipper rammed Kowalski in the stomach and cleared his throat. "I'm sure we will be able to take care of it some other time. For now, soldier, go and rest. You need it."

Private sighed and sulked off into the living room.

Skipper glared at Kowalski harshly. "Soldier, learn not to say things like that to him. You should know by now how sensitive he is." His eyes turned to Rico. "Rico, have you patched up Private's bed yet?"

Rico shook his head 'no' with a guilty grunt and Skipper barked, "Well, what are you waiting for?!"

Hurriedly, Rico rushed out of the room and Skipper turned back to Kowalski. "Soldier, take Mort back to his furry friends and then get working on some more of that injection serum. You can test some more tomorrow, but for now, you'll have to make due on your own."

Kowalski quickly saluted and responded, "Right sir, sorry sir," before rushing off with little Mort clutched between his flippers.

After Skipper was left alone in the room, he waddled out into the living room and over to Private, who was sitting silently on the edge of his bed. Rico was off….somewhere, most likely regurgitating the tools needed to patch up Private's bed.

Private, who normally moved his feet back and forth playfully when seated, just sat there without moving. Skipper cleared his throat as he approached, and Private looked up with a startled look on his face. He had been crying.

Skipper gently took Private's two flippers in his own and said surprisingly gently, "Come on, you can sleep in my bunk for now." Private nodded with a gulp, and followed the commander up to the bed above his.

After helping Private settle down, Skipper lay down beside him. Private shifted so his face was to the wall and his back was facing Skipper. More silent tears slipped through his water resistant feathers and Skipper wrapped soft flippers around his waist.

"Soldier," he whispered, "I told you already. Appearance doesn't matter, and you are a valuable member of this team. It doesn't matter what colors your feathers are. Either way, I still love yo-your f-feathers." Skipper's face flushed. He hadn't expected to stutter so much. What was so weird about saying 'I love you'? Friends said it all the time, right? Still, for some reason, he stopped himself.

Meanwhile, Private's curiosity got the better of him. _Why is Skippah acting so weird?_ He wondered. Of course, he was completely oblivious to the other penguin's developing feelings. Then again, he was going through some of his own.

"Skippah, what is it? You're acting strange."

"Nothing, soldier," Skipper replied quickly. "Anyway, like I was saying." He turned Private around to face him and smiled. "Cheer up, Private. You'll be back to normal in no time. But even if you aren't, it doesn't matter."

Private smiled, and Skipper saluted him with the face Private always made for him. Private giggled, and returned the gesture.

"Now, soldier, get some rest. Who knows, maybe this is a sleep thing?" Skipper slid out of the bed and plopped down on his feet.

"Alright," he said, stretching his flippers out in front of him. "I've got work to do." He was supposed to be meeting with Classified from North Wind soon. He headed outside and waited at the previously appointed spot just outside the penguin exhibit for the wolf to arrive.

After only about a minute, the whole North Wind group showed up and Skipper nodded to them all. "Hello, Classified."

"That is still not my name, but yes, hello," the wolf responded back. "How has your, ah, group, been faring since the mission?"

"We've been alright," Skipper responded. "Private's still got his pink feathers, but at least we were able to get rid of the antlers."

Classified nodded and said to Skipper, "Yes, well, that's very fantastic indeed. We have brought the jet-packs you requested, as you were not able to carry them back with you? If you show us your HQ we can come along with our vehicle at a later time to deliver them."

Skipper nodded, his expression stoic. "Alright-y, then. Follow me, cadets." The four agents eyed each other and strolled along after Skipper.

When they reached the penguin headquarters, Rico was busy at work stitching up Private's bedding and Kowalski was experimenting in his laboratory. "Vere is the tall one?" Eva asked in her feminine Russian accent.

"Hang in there," Skipper said. "I'll bring you all around to the laboratory in a minute. As you can see, this is the main room. We sleep, eat, watch television and what-not in this general area." He gestured briefly around the room before heading over to the laboratory doors.

He waddled through the entrance with the others processing slowly behind him. Kowalski was hard at work examining some injections, a small tray with a sample of Mort's fur laying on the counter beside him. He looked up when he heard the doors open and his eyes lit up at the sight of Eva.

He hurriedly leapt off his stool but then decided to try and look professional by sitting back down and continuing his work. However, Eva was the one to approach Kowalski and look over his shoulder to see what he was doing. He explained to her what had happened earlier and proceeded to discuss the genetic possibilities with her while Skipper showed the others the rest of the room.

Meanwhile, Private was waking up from his short nap, and rolled restlessly off the edge of the bed. "Ouch!" He yelped with a squeak, bumping his head on the ground and laying there dizzily.

He heard the voices of others in the room over, and decided to take a look. Standing up and brushing himself off with his flippers, he waddled over to the open doors and peered inside.


	3. Chapter 3

**~A/N~ _Hey guys! I'm back! With the third chapter; I'm happy because it came out much longer than usual, so yay! And I sort of cut it off there at the end, so I already know what I'm going to write next, for the most part. I just need to brainstorm a little more, and come up with some action/adventure, whatnot, to insert in here. Anyway, thanks for reading, hope you enjoy, and reviews would be lovely! ;)_**

**_~Cecilia_**

* * *

What Private saw inside didn't particularly please him. He furrowed his brow in confusion when he saw the members of the North Wind, and finally, his eyes settled on Kowalski and Eva. He waddled over to Skipper, then changed his mind, thinking he looked busy. So he walked over to Kowalski instead.

Of course, Kowalski and Eva were also busy- discussing some scientific things he didn't understand. He sighed and pulled himself onto the stool beside Kowalski. "Hi, K'walski," he said, trying to sound chipper. When he realized the analyst wasn't paying any attention to him, he looked absently around the room. _I need to get over this stupid crush_, he told himself exasperatedly.

Finally, after a few minutes Kowalski finally saw him and Private noticed he was blushing profusely- due largely to the fact Eva was perched daintily on his shoulder. "Oh-uhm, h-hello Private," he greeted before returning his attention back to the small owl. Private sighed. Of course. Kowalski always acted like this when Eva was around. He remembered that much from the mission, and Private wasn't quite as oblivious as the other penguins might like to think.

He hopped off of the stool and started walking in a small, repetitive circle. He didn't know how long he was doing so, but it must have been at least about ten minutes, because when Skipper gently tugged on his flipper to stop him, everybody else was gone. Him and Skipper were completely alone. Kowalski and the North Wind agents were gone. Alone. Of course, Private didn't even realize the sudden implications, so maybe he was about as oblivious as the other penguins thought. Then again, the situation was involving him, so maybe that was why.

Skipper shuffled his feet back and forth, suddenly awkward, making Private confused. Skipper never acted like that, as far as he knew. Finally, his commander chose to break the silence. "So, we should be getting those jet packs soon, Private."

Private blinked. "Uh, Skippah?"

Skipper looked up. "Yes, soldier?"

"Can we go out?"

Skipper's face immediately blanched, if that was even possible. "Ex-excuse me, soldier?!"

Private furrowed his brow in befuddlement. "Sorry, sir, my voice cracked. Outside, I mean. Can we go outside?"

Immediately Skipper let his breath out, which he hadn't been aware of holding in. "Of course, Private. Sure." The younger penguin followed Skipper into the living room and then waddled to the couch before jumping right on. "I thought you wanted to go outside," Skipper stated, backtracking over to the couch and plopping himself next to Private.

Private looked at him and giggled slightly. "Oh yeah. Well, I uh, I changed my mind."

Skipper stared at him before laughing and pulling the smaller penguin to him in a tight hug. "You're so ridiculous, soldier. But it's still so adorable."

Private could feel himself blushing underneath his feathers, and a rapid warmth seeped through his body at the sudden touch. He quickly brushed it off as nothing and snuggled further into Skipper's soft flippers. Skipper gulped, and unbeknownst to Private, he too was blushing beneath his silky black and white lining. However, he was much more aware of certain...feelings.

Skipper gulped and looked down at the warm, innocent penguin lying still in his flippers. He gently brushed a flipper through the feathers on Private's back but quickly stopped himself. However, when Private made a soft noise which sounded very much in resemblance to a purr, he couldn't help but smile.

Ever since the mission, Skipper had started getting unexpected….feelings. Feelings he didn't want to deny, but he had to._ I can't jeopardize the rest of the team_, he told himself as he watched the sleeping form beside him. As much as he wished he could just own up to his own familiar temptations, he kept reminding himself that he needed to hold back.

Besides, he thought, there's no way Private could ever like me back the way I like him. I think maybe….maybe he's just too innocent. Heck, I'm willing to bet he has a crush on Kowalski! But no, he wouldn't possibly like me.

Just then, the collective members of the North Wind group barged into the HQ, lugging along a huge suitcase. Skipper looked over the back of the couch at Classified, and back at Private. He figured if he moved at all it would definitely awake him, considering he had shifted in his sleep and was now sprawled out across his lap. He put a flipper to his lips to tell the agents to be quiet, and then motioned for them to approach the couch.

When they did, Corporal set the impossibly sized suitcase on the ground in front of him and opened it up to reveal its contents. Inside were the same exact jet-packs the penguins had used a week before, still in mint condition. Luckily for them, they hadn't crashed as expected. Classified raised his brow at the sleeping Private huddled up in Skipper's lap, and Skipper just shook his head in embarrassment. "Don't ask," he whispered.

Classified nodded and bowed before backing away. "We may stop by some other time. But until then, we're off," he whispered back.

Skipper watched the North Wind agents leave the HQ and sighed, leaning his back against the couch and closing his eyes, absentmindedly running a flipped gently through Private's fluffy black feathers.

Throughout the course of the next two weeks, there was one frequent visitor to the penguins' HQ: Eva. For some reason, Skipper noticed Private didn't seem to be his usual chipper self when Eva was around, and the spare couple of days she wasn't he followed Kowalski around like a lost puppy, begging for attention. Skipper supposed it didn't help that Kowalski was still trying to find a method of turning Private's feathers back to normal, and used that as a "viable reason for Eva being here so often."

However, Skipper knew better than that. One Thursday afternoon, Skipper was doing the normal routine supply check, and when he opened a small dark supply closet located just at the back of Kowalski's laboratory, he witnessed a sight he did not want to behold.

There they were, Kowalski and Eva, making out in plain sight. Well, maybe not in plain sight, considering they were hidden. Well, actually, now they were in plain sight, and of course, Skipper had Private tagging along so he could show him what the usual process was (he had begged and begged Skipper for more responsibility), and the small naive penguin ran off in poorly concealed tears before Skipper could cover up his eyes.

Kowalski looked over at Skipper in dazed mild confusion, still apparently lost in his own little world, and the Commander just gave him an agitated look. Meanwhile, Eva was still in a perfectly normal state of being, and she simply said in her oh-so Russian accent, "I think zhour vittle friend has a thing for zhou." Kowalski looked at her, befuddled, then slowly started to blush.

Skipper scoffed and slammed the closet door shut on them before chasing after Private. _I'll lecture Kowalski later_, he thought. Upon seeing the smaller penguin was nowhere to be found in the living room, he searched the bathroom, checked the other supply closet, and finally, went top-side.

He looked all around the penguins' habitat, but he still couldn't find him. He slowly became more and more worried as time ticked by, and urgently ran all the way over to the lemurs' habitat.

Thankfully, he found Private there, talking to none other than Julien and his other furry friends. "Private!" Skipper yelled, as he barreled into the other penguin. "I've been searching for you everywhere! Don't worry me like that." Finally he released his tight-gripped hug when he realized that Private couldn't breathe, and stopped to wait while he caught his breath.

Of course, Julien just happened to be throwing another one of his "dance parties", and Skipper did his best to ignore the shrill sound of the lemur's voice calling out to him to join him in his "outrageous fun." Instead, he dragged Private away from the lemur habitat and together they walked in silence in between the many different habitats. The zoo had closed already, so there were no people in sight as they roamed freely throughout the park.

"Sk-Skippah," Private sniffed. Skipper immediately turned to his friend and they both stopped walking and instead turned towards each other. "Skippah, I...I..."

"Shhh." Skipper said, bringing the smaller penguin towards him. Private found it mildly odd that Skipper was in such a compassionate state, but chose to ignore it and enjoy it while it lasted. "I know," Skipper soothed, rubbing small comforting circles around Private's back with the tip of his flipper.

Private sniffed again as more tears came falling down. "I-I knew they were together. I knew this was happening. I just...I just thought if I didn't think about it and I didn't see it it wouldn't be so….so real..and that maybe, if I waited long enough, it would just...go away."

Skipper felt his heart break at his crying soldier's broken words, and he held him even tighter. "I'm sorry, soldier. Heartbreak happens; it happens to the best of us."

He pulled away just enough to look him in the eyes and quietly wiped away the tears which were tracing themselves down Private's cheeks, which managed to elicit a small, sad smile from the melancholy penguin.

"How about this? Let's break into the Zoovenir, just you and me, and I'll help you pick something out. And here," he handed Private a small golden coin, "For the cheesy dibbles."

Private giggled softly and sniffled one last time. "O-Okay," he whispered.

Skipper smiled and grabbed Private's flipper with his one, and they playfully skipped side by side to the store.

"Alright," Skipper said, when they arrived, "We don't have Rico with us, so we'll have to figure out some other way to pick the lock on this door….Oh, great, they've upped the security. I guess they've finally caught on to the fact that somebody keeps breaking in here."

"W-we can go back and get the others if you want," Private stammered, unsure.

"No," Skipper said immediately, turning around to lightly grip Private's shoulders and give him a reassuring smile. "I told you, just you and me, soldier."

Private smiled and nodded. Skipper turned back around to contemplate the double locks, and told Private to scan the exterior of the building while he contemplated. He searched for something, and figured out if he had something like a rock, he could throw it at the small window at the top at the door and climb up the walls and jump in to disengage a lock. However, one of the locks was only exterior, so he still needed a way to get rid of that portion, or else him and Private would be locked in.

Finally, Private returned heaving a discarded plastic souvenir cup with the purple straw still in it. "Um, Skippah?" he said breathlessly, straining to pull the heavy cup along with him. Skipper went over to help, and they got the cup to the edge of the door. "I figured we could just use the straw to pick the lock there on the outside, if we just squeezed it real small-like."

Skipper grinned and patted his back. "Excellent thinking, soldier!" Together, they pulled the straw and managed to stomp one end of it close together and even chewed it smaller for good measure. Skipper then informed Private of his other idea and sent Private off to find the perfect sized/shaped rock while he proceeded to jam and twist the straw into the lock. Just as Private was coming back with a small gray, bumpy stone, Skipper managed to undo the lock, and gently took the rock from Private's flipper.

But just as he was lifting it up, he stopped and turned to Private, holding it back out to him. "Would you like to do the honors, soldier?"

Private nodded with a grin, and took the stone. Skipper moved behind him and placed one flipper on his waist, one on his flipper to guide it back. "Now," he breathed in Private's ear, "Pull the stone back," he led Private's flipper back some to the perfect position, "and launch with just the right precision and force. You need to look for the window's weak spot."

Meanwhile, Skipper's hot breath on his neck sent spastic shivers down Private's spine, and he tried to shake the warm, intoxicating feeling that rolled through his whole body. "See," Skipper moved his other flipper away from Private's waist and pointed to a place just near the corner of the window. "See that crack? You'll want to hit precisely there. That's the weak point." For some odd, unexplainable reason, his heart began to flutter in his chest and his pulse was racing fast, causing the rock to whirl way off target on the first throw. Skipper chuckled lightly. "Better luck next time," he kidded as he went to retrieve the rock. After that, he let Private do it on his own, and on the fifth throw, he managed to throw the pebble at just the right angle and it shattered the thin glass into sharp, tinkling fragments.

"Good job, soldier," Skipper congratulated. From there on, the penguins were easily able to climb up the side of the building, jump on top of the door handle, and launch themselves through the door window. However, as Skipper landed perfectly on the laminate counter-top, Private hit the very edge and his feet slid off. Little black flippers clutched at the edge and he cried out, "Skippah!"

The older penguin was already in front of him and quickly grabbed his flippers and pulled him back up. With limited space, Private found himself inches away from Skipper's body, and for a minute they just stood there, staring at each other. Of course, Private quickly grew uncomfortable and said nervously, "U-uh Skippah?"

Skipper blinked, seeming to come out of a trance, and smiled sheepishly before backing away and turning to look at all the different souvenirs. "Well, soldier," he said, "Whaddya want?"

Private beamed and clapped his flippers together excitedly, giggling.

"Soldier, if you keep acting so cute I'm gonna have to hug you," Skipper said mockingly seriously. Private giggled some more and blushed slightly before approaching Skipper's side and looking around at everything.

Contrary to Skipper's expectations, the smaller penguin latched himself around him and burrowed his head in Skipper's feathery chest, eliciting a slight blush from him as well. "Thanks Skipper," he whispered.

His commander slowly smiled and playfully rubbed the top of Private's head. "You're welcome, soldier."


	4. Chapter 4

**~A/N~ _I know this is kind of a short chapter, but I felt this was a good place to leave off, and I thought it provided a good bit of certain..."information." Or atleast implied it. I promise a nice, long chapter next time though. I already have most of chapter five planned. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it nonetheless and a fifth chapter shouldn't be too far off. :)_**

**_~Cecilia_**

* * *

When Skipper and Private returned to HQ, they carried a bag of cheesy dibbles each, and Private clutched his souvenir carefully in his flippers. He had chosen a delicate crystal snow-globe shaped like a faceted heart with a circular stone base holding it up at the bottom. Inside, tiny white "snowflakes" fluttered around an enclosed engraving of the four penguins themselves and the words "#PenguinLife."

"People and their hash-tags," Skipper had teased him about it. "I don't even know what they're supposed to stand for."

"Me either," Private had admitted with a blush.

The two of them settled down on the couch with their dibbles after Private carefully set his souvenir beneath the pillow of his bed. After about ten minutes, Kowalski emerged, alone, from the laboratory. He approached the couch slowly with a sheepish look on his face. "Private," he started, "If I may have a word?"

Private gulped and shared a look with Skipper, who appeared worried. He set down his bag and hopped off the couch. 'Are you sure?' Skipper mouthed to him. Private nodded, and walked with Kowalski back inside the laboratory.

"Wh-what is it?" Private asked him hesitantly, though he thought he already knew the answer.

"It's about...earlier," Kowalski said, shuffling his flippers awkwardly. "A-are you alright?" He asked.

Private looked down at the floor and nodded. "Yeah..I-I'm okay."

Kowalski sighed and scratched his forehead. "Listen...I don't really know how to say this; I'm still really new at this whole concept of, well, um, you know. But...Eva said she thinks you might have a-a 'thing for me.' I-is that why you were so upset earlier?"

"A….thing?" Private asked, confused.

"You know, like, well, a crush…?"

Private gulped and shuffled his feet on the floor. "Uh- I, well, I mean," he sighed, "Yes. I-I h-have a c-crush on you," His voice was shaky, ready to shatter into a million pieces of discordant glass. He tried to meet Kowalski's eyes, but couldn't, and looked away instead. "But I know...how you feel...about E-Eva, and I've been t-trying to g-get over i-it."

Kowalski gulped. "Well, you see, the thing is, Private, Eva is going to be leaving soon, and I don't know when I'm ever going to see her again. Our time spent together has been...'special', indeed, but I'm actually not quite sure how I feel about her. That's why she's been over here so much. Once she leaves there's a possibility I might never see her again."

Private nodded, not really quite sure where he was going with this. "O-okay..."

Kowalski sighed and shifted awkwardly. "Well, Private, what I mean to say is...I don't really have those feelings for you now...but, a chance for us in the future isn't...impossible."

Private could feel his stomach drop and his heart leap to his throat. "Y-you, you mean it?"

Kowalski gave a slight, uncertain, smile. "Y-yeah, Private."

Private nodded and felt his feathers start to blush- luckily for him they were already pink to begin with so it would be difficult to notice. "Well, I-I suppose I'll, s-see you around then," Private told him before turning and nearly sprinting out of the room. He ran right past Skipper without even noticing, who had been eavesdropping on the two of them the whole time.

He leapt on his bed and lay there quietly, his pulse drumming in his chest, his thoughts circulating wildly.

Skipper slowly walked into the room and stared at Kowalski with his flippers folded behind his back.

"You were listening, weren't you?"

Skipper silently nodded, and walked a few paces closer to his soldier. "You were lying, weren't you?" He softly accused.

Kowalski sighed and again scratched the back of his head. "I didn't technically lie, sir, what I said about Eva and my feelings were 100% true."

"But you don't _really _think there is actually a chance for you two, do you?"

Kowalski turned away. "Okay, Skipper, you caught me. No, I don't. But, well, it technically isn't-"

"Stop using technicalities with me, soldier," Skipper said angrily, his voice starting to rise as he drew even closer, "And give it to me straight!"

"Okay, okay!" Kowalski rushed, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. "I didn't want to hurt him! I just figured-"

"What? That if you got his hopes up, he would never lose that hope and would therefore, be happy? Forever? Well, what do you think will happen when Eva comes back to visit sometime and it's just back to exactly the way it was? By giving him that...that possibility, even an extremely vague one, you're stringing him along and leading him to an even harder eventual heartbreak when nothing ever happens."

Kowalski still stared at him bug-eyed, and finally managed to clear his throat. "I-I..." He didn't know what else to say, so he simply stared at the ground and responded, "I'm sorry, sir."

"You better be sorry, soldier," Skipper growled. "You've caused enough damage as it is, and Private doesn't need even more hurt from you." He turned around and headed for the door, leaving a guilty and speechless Kowalski in his midst. Finally, as he stood, just about to open the door, Kowalski worked up his courage.

"You like him, don't you sir? The way he likes me..."

Skipper stood there, silently, an uneasy feeling stirring in his stomach and opened the door, pausing for a moment before exiting. He opened his beak, about to say something, then closed it again.

Echoes reverberated throughout the room when the door slammed shut and Kowalski stood there in a stunned silence.


	5. Chapter 5

**~A/N~_ Hello again my people! First of all, I wanna thank all of you guys! Without your amazing reviews, support, follows, faves, and even just reads, I couldn't have had the same motivation to continue this story to my best ability. I just really appreciate all of you and it always makes my day to read the kind reviews or find out somebody else has followed or favorited. I cannot express how grateful I am. :') Anyway, here is the fifth chapter to this story, and I hope you like it!_**

_~**Cecilia xoxo**_

* * *

Private was restless in his bed all night. He barely got any sleep- and Skipper had noticed. It was keeping him awake, hearing the younger penguin shift restlessly in place, muttering and shivering. He carefully climbed down to Private's bunk and whispered, "What's eating at you, soldier?"

Private blushed and stared at Skipper, who was sitting beside him, and quickly sat up as well. "N-nothing, Skippah."

"Don't lie to me, Private, I heard you shuffling around down here. You haven't been sleeping...neither have I," Skipper said softly, so as not to disturb the others. "Are you thinking about what Kowalski said?"

Private narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "How do you know what K'walski said?" He questioned.

This time it was Skipper's turn to blush. "It was pretty hard not to hear. I mean, he was talking pretty loud," he lied easily. Thank God Private fell for it.

"Oh. Really? I hadn't noticed. I guess I was more focused on….other things." He blushed deeper, and looked away. "Yeah, it's about what he said."

"You still like him?"

"Y-yeah...I-I think so…"

Skipper didn't have any trouble hiding his disappointment- he was used to it. However, that didn't mean it didn't hurt. _I've got to get over this. It's ridiculous. _He told himself. _He's my soldier...a friend, and that's it._

Nevertheless, he just couldn't resist. "Here," he said, laying down and gently bringing Private down closer to him. He wrapped soft flippers delicately around the other penguin's frame and smiled into the top of his head. "Does this help?" He breathed.

Private closed his eyes and smiled as well. "Y-yeah. Th-thanks, Skippah," he responded, wrapping his own flippers around Skipper and burrowing his head into Skipper's chest. "G'night, Skippah."

Skipper smiled. His heart fluttered breathlessly in his warm yet aching chest. He too closed his eyes and whispered affectionately, "Goodnight, Private."

* * *

Throughout the rest of the day after, the four penguins noticed something odd. There were animals talking all morning and afternoon about some strange uniformed humans wandering about the habitats and inspecting the animals.

Skipper and Private caught glimpses of them, but Rico was nowhere to be seen and Kowalski was inside spending time with Eva. Finally, at about five o'clock in the afternoon, the two penguins were out and about doing their usual routine, and the people arrived.

They wore attire much different from the people who worked at the zoo. In fact, the colors and arrangement of fabric very much resembled the penguins themselves (Kowalski later explained they were wearing suits). Skipper sat across from Private, who was nibbling absentmindedly on a fish, when three tall humans approached them.

"Are these all of them?" One asked, kneeling down beside the two penguins, who stared at them confoundedly.

"Who are they?" Asked Private, eyeing the one who knelt beside him. Skipper simply shrugged and chomped down his second fish.

Before he knew it, the human was lifting him up and looking closely at his vibrant pink plumage. "Whoa, look at this!" He exclaimed, calling the other two over for a closer look. They all huddled together, poking and prodding the small penguin, who squirmed helplessly and called out for Skipper.

"It's okay, soldier. They don't look very threatening. In fact, they look somewhat…akin...I wonder if it's possible for humans to be related to penguins..." Skipper's voice trailed off and he stared, in thought, at the fish in front of him.

After what seemed like ages, the strange humans put Private down and left the habitat, but not without first ruffling all Private's feathers and causing him immense agitation. Skipper looked up at the ruffled penguin and chuckled.

With a huff, Private sat down beside him and whined, "Why only me? Why didn't they pick you up and bother _you, _Skippah?"

He smiled and shrugged before commenting, "You know, having your feathers all ruffled like that makes you look even cuter than before."

Private frowned and looked away with a faint blush. "Why were they here though?" He asked.

Again, Skipper shrugged. "I don't know, Private. Maybe they're just zoo inspectors, making sure all the animals are being well cared for."

The smaller penguin nodded. "Okay." He then shook his feathers back into place and resumed gnawing on his fish.

* * *

That night, as all four penguins lay in their respective beds, they heard loud noises and human voices coming from up above. Private sat there, brow furrowed, heart beating fast as he listened curiously. Finally, his curiosity got the better of him, and he leapt from the bunk and slipped outside without the others noticing.

As he wandered into the dark, looking around, the noises suddenly stopped. He stood, cold and shivering, and waited.

_Crunch._ The sound of approaching footsteps seemed to be much too close fro Private's liking, and it was starting to scare him. He backed away, ready to go back underground, when a pair of gloved hands snatched him up and swung him into the air.

Letting out a loud quackish screech, he flailed his flippers helplessly and called out for Skipper. "Help!" He screamed. The humans from before smiled and said something to each other before turning around and walking over to a small wooden crate. The one holding Private knelt down and the penguin knew immediately where he was headed. "Nooooo!" He began flinging around more and more desperately, and suddenly, he saw a familiar penguin out of the corner of his eye. "Skippah!" He called out.

But it was too late. Just as Skipper reached the topside and realized what was going on, he saw the humans pushing Private into the wooden crate and sealing up the opening. He fell forward on his belly and began sliding towards them, but they had already lifted up the crate and began walking towards the exit.

_Come on, come on._ He told himself. He slid faster and faster, causing sharp aches on his stomach as he drew nearer and nearer to his target. _Crash. _He slammed into something solid and very bulky, knocking the breath from his body. "Oof!"

As he tried to regain his balance and recollect himself, he lunged out from the exhibit and hurriedly looked around. There they were! Turning a corner about twenty feet away, he saw the humans. He chased after them, but by the time he reached that spot, they were already gone, and the entrance to the zoo was firmly locked and closed when he checked. He grabbed onto the bars with his flippers and let the tears freely gush out of his navy blue eyes.

"No, no, no," he repeated over and over again. "Private!" He called out into the night, hopelessly waiting for some sort of response. He shook the bars rapidly, "PRIVATE! SOLDIER! ANSWER ME, SOLDIER!" Still, no response and the waterfall of tears grew heavier and heavier. He began to hope, to wish that this was all just a horrible, horrible dream, but he knew that it was not. This, sadly, was nothing but the deadly reality.

Rico and Kowalski emerged, drowsy, from their beds when they heard Private screaming. At first, they didn't know what was wrong.

"Aaawurghugh?" Rico asked him sleepily.

Kowalski gulped. "I don't know," he responded, "Let's go see and find out."

The two waddled side by side out of the HQ and into their habitat. "Where is everybody?" Kowalski asked, puzzled.

Rico shrugged. "I'unno."

Kowalski sighed and scratched his head. "Go check inside, look in the lab and other rooms. You need to find out if either Private or Skipper are in there." Rico nodded and belly slid back inside, leaving Kowalski outside and contemplating on what to do.

He looked around the whole habitat a couple of times, waiting for Rico to come back. When he did, he simply shook his head- Kowalski understood. "Come on," he told him, "Let's go."

They left the habitat and walked throughout the whole zoo before finally reaching the entrance gates. Kowalski breathed a rushed sigh of relief when he saw Skipper clinging to the icy bars, shoulders hunched against the cold. He started wishing he had brought some sort of scarf with him. "Skipper!" He called out, racing towards his commander. "Skipper," he breathed, crouching down beside him and hastily wrapping flippers around the shivering body. "It's snowing out here, Skipper. What are you doing?"

"They took him," Skipper managed to choke out, his cobalt eyes wet with tears.

"What?"

"Private," he gasped, blinking his eyes in an attempt to get rid of the collected moisture, "They took Private!"

"Skipper, calm down, you're not making any sense." He awkwardly patted his back in an attempt to comfort him. Skipper slowed his breathing and started to become less anxious. "Alright. Good. Now, tell me what happened- _who_ took Private?"

"That group of humans we told you about from earlier. They came back," Skipper coughed out.

"Okay, okay," Kowalski began, still mildly confused. "Let's get you back to HQ, and warm you up. Then you can tell us all about it."

When the three penguins returned to HQ and managed to warm up a bit, Skipper explained everything, from what happened during the men' first surprise visit to hearing them bumping around outside at night, to going out and watching them take Private right before his very eyes.

Rico and Kowalski had never seen Skipper cry like that before, and they didn't know how to really deal with it. Frankly, the two of them were still waiting for Skipper to take charge. Finally, he seemed to focus clearly, and started doing just that.

He jumped off of the couch where they were sitting. "Alright, soldiers," he commanded, "We've gotten Private back from someone before, and we can do it again."

"Actually, sir, it was Private who rescued us," Kowalski noted.

Skipper sighed and flipper-palmed. "Right, but still, what did I tell you about true but unnecessary comments?"

Kowalski nodded, looking guilty. "Right sir. Sorry sir."

Skipper nodded. "Alright. Anyway. Eh-hem," he coughed into his flipper. "We need to formulate a plan, establish some way of contact, and find out where exactly he's been taken. Kowalski, first thing tomorrow morning, when Eva gets here, I want you to get her to take us to the North Wind base. Meanwhile, see if you have some useful tech in there. Maybe Private had his walkie-talkie, try and make contact. Rico, go with Kowalski. See if he needs any help."

"Actually, sir," Kowalski said, "Eva's not coming here tomorrow. She's not coming until the day after."

Skipper groaned. "Just great," he muttered.

"Wait!" Kowalski rushed, "But I can take you there myself. Eva showed me where it is, and we can use the jet-packs to get over there tomorrow."

Skipper nodded. "Alright, soldier. Good thinking. See-ya tomorrow. I need to go investigate- see if anybody else knows something about those strange human men. Wish me luck." With that, he wrapped a soft black scarf around his neck and went top-side, hoping that somewhere, somebody had some useful information.

* * *

It was no use. Skipper had spent three hours talking to _every single animal_ in the zoo, and _nobody _had any useful information. Although, Julien had mentioned they had seemed to be looking at the more unusual animals (of course, he was complaining as to why they didn't seem to find him 'glorious' enough). However, this seemed about right, considering they only took Private, and he was certainly an oddity, with his pink spotted feather and all.

Plus, undefeated adorableness didn't hurt.

Finally, on his last whim, he decided to try and sneak into the main information hub. Just like the shop, there had been extra precautions taken to ward off unexpected 'visitors.' However, with a combined force of intelligence and skill, Skipper was able to execute his ideas just right to break into the room, lock-pick the cabinets, and obtain several suspicious looking files.

He rifled through them, squinting at the barely legible writing. Nope, he definitely still couldn't read. He could tell the dates apart though, and grabbed the most recent archives on file. _Maybe Classified will be able to examine them,_ he thought to himself. _The zoo has to have something- some sort of message or hint as to who the people were, what organization they were with, what they were doing, credentials, something! Wait a second….a message! Of course! The people who visited must have needed to get in contact with the zoo officials first! There could be a letter somewhere in here...or an email on the computer._

Skipper rummaged around a bit through the files, and finally found something. Maybe he couldn't read, but he could still recognize and envelope and postage stamps when he saw them. That meant he was able to pick the one file folder which contained the papers related to the topic. Of course, he found one sheet of paper with hat appeared to be credentials and small pictures of each person on the team on it. He recognized them each instantly.

Next, he checked the computers, but he wasn't able to hack into the system. "If we don't have everything here, I'm sure one of the North Wind agents will be able to," he muttered to himself.

He decided to head back to HQ with his valuable information and get some sleep. He would need it. He had a long day ahead of him.

* * *

Private shivered inside his rough, wooden crate, whimpering softly as he hopelessly clutched his flippers around his body in a futile attempt to warm himself up. "I-I want Sk-Skippah," he whined softly. He could feel the cold biting him through the cracks in the wooden box.

Right now, he craved the warmth from another penguin, especially one in particular. This made him realize something. He couldn't deny the strange fluttery sensation he got from being around Kowalski, yet there was something...something else…coming from _someone_ else.

Could it...no, it couldn't be. Yet, he couldn't help noticing that in his times of need, it wasn't Kowalski he always yearned for.

It was Skipper.


	6. Chapter 6

**~A/N~ _Hey guys! I know it's been a while since I last updated. I've just been super busy, and unable to get around to it. ,._. However, Spring Break just just started for me, so I should be able to write a lot more in the upcoming week. Whatever happens though, I am not dropping this story. I can promise that much. Anyway, this is kinda short, but I hope it will tide you over until I can get out a longer chapter. Thanks for the support! Love you guys!_**

**_~Cecelia xx_**

* * *

Skipper woke up with his head slumped over on the desk in front of him, papers and files he couldn't decipher strewn across the room. He blinked open his cobalt blue eyes with a groan, and tried to lift his head. Letting out a small cough, he surveyed his surroundings, mildly confused. "Wha-?"

Suddenly he remembered the events of the night before, and jolted upright, now completely wide awake. _Private! _He had passed out in his office while going over (and over, and over) the files he had found, hunting for something he would recognize that might lead him to Private.

He launched himself out of the room, only to rush back in and neatly (or not-so-neatly) shove the haphazard papers back into their appropriate folders. He then rushed back out, clutching the file folders in his flippers, and forced the others awake. "Come on, soldiers, we've got work to do!" The two other penguins emerged with sore eyes and disgruntled moans and groans.

"I said come _on," _Skipper rushed, pushing them towards the door. "Kowalski, Rico, _move it!" _Finally, the two seemed to collect themselves and started walking faster. "Kowalski," Skipper said firmly as they felt the beaming sunlight from the outside world hit their feathers. "The park will be opening soon. Lead the way!"

Private had fallen asleep hours ago, lulled by the sounds of what seemed to be waves crashing against each other far below. By the faint hum of an engine, he guessed he was riding inside of a helicopter- to where, he didn't know.

When he finally woke up, blinking open his sky blue eyes, it was because of large human hands lifting him up and placing him gently on a soft patch of green grass. He yawned and stretched out his flippers. His dream had been pleasant. But when he looked around at his surroundings, reality began to kick in and the terror of what had just happened dawned on him.

He gulped and watched as the humans chatted, staying there and glancing back and forth at him before leaving the way they had come. Private sat, in shock, silently. He stood after a few minutes. All he saw for miles was grass and trees. He started walking in a random direction before feeling something prod him in the back.

He turned, ready to run, bu stopped in amazement when he saw another penguin staring back at him. The first female penguin he had seen in his life. "Oh, uh, hullo," he greeted shyly. If his feathers weren't pink already, he would have been blushing.

"Wow," she said, her pale green eyes widening. "You're pink!" She exclaimed.

Private ruffled his feathers defensively and huffed, "I think I know that already, thank you."

She laughed and looked away. "Sorry," she apologized sheepishly. "I'm Ruby. Come on, I'll take you to the others."

"Others?" He queried, tilting his head in confusion.

She laughed again. "Yeah, you know...penguins? Come on, Shift will fill you in."She dragged him off in the opposite direction he had been heading, all the while with him wondering, _Where am I?_

What he saw when they reached their destination amazed him. "Wow!" He said aloud. More penguins he had ever seen before were walking around. "There's so many!" They were all gathered in small separate huddle- conversing, playing games, laughing, sitting, standing- it was a bit much for him to take in.

Ruby gave him an odd look. "Not really," she said slowly. Her demeanor seemed to quickly dampen. "A lot of us have been dying off," she said sadly. "There used to be _hundreds _of us here. Now there's only about forty..." Private shifted awkwardly.

"I-that's terrible," he stammered, his eyes tearing up.

Ruby patted his back and seemed to brighten. "Well, it'll all be okay, cause that's all gonna change! Now that you're here, that is! You're gonna be the one to fix everything!"

Private stared blankly at her. "What?"

"Come on, silly, let's go see Shift!" She grabbed his flipper once again and dragged him away. She led him to a pale orange tent, and pulled him through the opening. He saw an older looking, intimidating penguin in the corner, who turned to look at them when they walked in.

"Is this him? The new arrival?" The penguin, whom Private assumed to be Shift, queried with a gruff voice. _Maybe he's just got a sore throat…_ Private mused. Either way, this guy sounded like he meant business.

"Yeah. He just got here. Oh, by the way, what's your name?" She questioned, turning her bright stare to the befuddled penguin.

"Uhm...Private..."

She nodded. "Okay!"

Private gulped and looked back over at the larger penguin. "Welcome, Private," he greeted, his voice low. "Are you aware of the exact details of your situation here?"

Private shook his head 'no', and Shift sighed, gesturing to a chair. "Sit down then," he said, surprisingly gentle, "There's a lot to tell you."


	7. Chapter 7

**~A/N~ _Hey guys I'm back again with another chapter! Recently it's just been hard to get some inspiration for this story (or anything really). I do promise to work hard on getting up new chapters though cause I already feel the ideas coming back to me. Life has just been kinda getting in the way and well, yeah...Anyway, here is chapter seven! I hope you enjoy and please leave your thoughts in a review! :) Thank you!_**

**_~Cecelia xx_**

* * *

Private sat, alone, on an isolated patch of outcropping rocks looking out over a vast expanse of nothing but trees, trees, and more trees.

He sighed, his breath billowing out in front of him as a thankless display of the minimal warmth which shrouded that weary night. There he was, alone and away from his friends, away from home, and expected to...to…

He gulped.

Repopulate.

He shivered as an icy breeze brushed his feathers the wrong way, and winced at his own thoughts. He just couldn't wrap his head around the concept. _Repopulate? _He asked himself. _Why me? Why-why anything? Why _this_? I mean, I'm not even ready for that yet...how can they just expect me to show up and get it on with total complete strangers?! _His thoughts flared up with the indignation of the words he was too afraid to voice out loud. _Besides...I don't even know if I..._like _girls in that...that way…_

The soft crunching of snow and shuffling of flippers alerted him of another presence nearby. He kept staring forward, silent and unnaturally stoic as the female penguin from earlier came up and sat beside him.

"Hi…." she whispered. "Uhm...how...how are you doing?"

Silence was reply. She placed a soft flipper gently on his shoulder, but he tensed up before shrugging her off. When he glanced in her direction her eyes looked hurt and he felt immediately guilty.

"Not good," he finally answered, tears already stinging in the corners of his baby blue eyes. "I miss my friends, well...my family really...I miss my home, I'm scared, I don't wanna do _this!_ I-I-" He choked up and started crying, hot wet drops dripping down his face.

There he was, a stranger named Ruby holding him as he cried, sitting in what seemed to be an impossible situation.

"I'm sorry," she breathed. "But...we _really really _need your help. And who knows, maybe you'll get used to life here. You can have new friends, a new family...and maybe you aren't ready for it, but maybe you just have to- well, think about it more, let it process. You'll come around."

He shrugged her off once again, wiping the tears hurriedly from his eyes. "You don't understand," he hissed, his expression suddenly cross. "You don't even _know _me!"

He scrambled upright and stared off into the distance. "I don't even..." he drifted off and shook his head.

"What is it?" Ruby climbed quickly to her flippers and grabbed his shoulders. "Tell me." Her eyes pleaded sincerely with him and he couldn't help it.

"Promise you won't tell anybody?" He whispered meekly, his voice weak and helpless. His eyes developed a vacant stare as soon as she nodded in response. "I..." he sighed, and tried to start again. "I don't….I don't _like_ girls the way I'm supposed to...Atleast, not that I know of….I mean, the only penguins I've ever had feelings for have been….well, guys.." He sniffled, rubbing his nose before pulling away and instantly regretting what he had done.

She was just staring at him, gaping, her eyes wide. He turned away, waiting for her response while inwardly scolding himself. _She's a bloody stranger! And you just told her your….ugh…_ He sighed and shivered in the cold. _You're so naive.__Skipper's right._

"Oh," she finally responded. This penguin was beginning to get more and more on Private's nerves.

"That's all you have to say, _oh!?" _He asked, spinning around to glare at her furiously.

"What do you want me to say!" She squawked. "I-we-it's…." She sighed and looked away. "Look, keep your voice down," she hissed, looking from side to side. "You never know who might hear us."

"What do I care?" He asked, aggravated. "I already told one penguin, a complete stranger, mind you. You're probably going to go off and blab it all over to everybody else anyway." _Seeing the negative in everyone….you've been hanging out with Skipper too much._ He wanted to laugh at his own inner voice but even he could see that now wasn't the time.

She grabbed his flippers, and gulped. "We- I mean, well they….well, you see, the other penguins here...they're all _completely against_ what you just told me you are." Private's eyes widened. "If anybody finds out...they'll..." She paused, looking down.

"They'll what?!" Private snapped. But he was more scared than anything.

"Kill you!" She hissed. "Torture you! I...I'm not entirely sure...I've only heard stories...really..."

Private squeaked. "You-you won't t-tell anyone, will you?" He asked her, his eyes gleaming desperately. "I-I...I-"

She cut him off. "Of course not! I mean, I don't really see the big deal in it all. I think everybody should be able to love who they want. Sadly, I'm the _only_ one here who thinks that...and trust me, I've looked. Noone."

More tears fell down Private's cheeks as Ruby continued. "You'll have to keep it on the down-low. Which means...you'll need a way to mask it. Especially around Shift...he's entirely homophobic."

The two of them stood there in silence for a few minutes before she finally piped up. "I've got it!" She exclaimed excitedly. "We can pretend that we're a couple!"

Private stared at her warily. "But...won't they expect us to….you know..."

She rolled her eyes. "There is such a thing as lying, you know," she snapped. "It's not like they're gonna wanna _watch _us doing the naughty business." When she noticed his raised brow she added immediately, "Of course, not-not that we'll actually be _doing _the naughty business. You know, I-I mean, o-of course not." She stopped, and added timidly, "Right?"

Private's eyes widened and he blushed under his feathers. "Of course not!" He scoffed. He saw she appeared mildly hurt but tried to brush it off.

"Well," she sighed, "I guess we better head back."

Private nodded silently and tensed slightly when she slipped her flipper into his.

"Let's go, boyfriend."

* * *

**Next Time***

**Kowalski couldn't believe his eyes.**

**"_It's kind of hard when you have a crush on somebody who won't even look at you twice."_**

**This was it: Private needed to come home-now.**

_**"Skipper...he's..he's in..."**_

_***I saw another story that implemented this and decided to try it out ;) Tell me what you think!***_


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N~ _Well here it is! Finally! The next chapter! I know. It has taken me so long to write this and upload it. This is mainly because I had issues with my writing programs which were not easily solved, and also the fact that I for some reason, wasn't able to upload any documents, so I couldn't finish the chapter on here. But, like I said, I am never dropping this story. It's my baby. And besides, I'm on summer vacation now, and I have plenty of plans and ideas. You can be expecting plenty of updates in the future. Thank you, and enjoy! ;)_**

**_xx ~Cecilia_**

* * *

Kowalski could not believe his eyes. Or ears, for that matter. The three penguins were all seated inside the North Wind's headquarters, watching Classified go over all the files relevant to Private's disappearance.

He had pulled up an image on the screen showing the information page of the organization which had taken Private. They all stared in shock as Classified read off it's contents to them.

"You see, this organization, known as NRAOO or Nature Rehabilitation and Oddity Observation, specializes in taking...well...unique members of a certain species and taking them to a wildlife preserve or habitat so they can repopulate the species. Obviously, Private fits quite nicely within this category, what with his pink feathers and all. It seems the zoo signed a contract allowing them to go through the habitats and pick out certain animals they deemed unusual. Of course, they had to run each animal by with the zoo authorities even then, which means..." He paused, flipping through the papers.

"Aha!" He exclaimed, holding one up for all to see. Of course, he didn't really have to, considering it immediately became displayed as a projection. On the paper was a picture of Private, two actually: one of him sleeping in the wooden crate and an older zoo identity picture that was taken before his 'pinkness.' Classified leaned closer to look at the paper before throwing it down and turning to the screen.

He pointed out the different sections of text as he explained, even though the penguins couldn't read. "You see here," he began, "Apparently there are several isolated areas in need of a penguin re-population, which they had to discuss with their core representatives..."

The three penguins exchanged a look of exasperation before Skipper began speaking. "Look," he sighed, "Can you tell us where he is or can't you?"

"Honestly," Classified exhaled. "I...really don't know..."

"Wait!" There was a sudden exclamation from Eva, who was previously sitting quietly at her computer. "Classified, I think we've found something. I was able to relocate the tracking device we had implanted into the penguins, and reactivate the one used for Private….If we will just wait for the signal to verify..."

Kowalski rushed over to her side and excitedly kissed her on the head. "Oh Eva!" He gushed. "You're so wonderful!" He waited eagerly for the location to be shown, and finally, the global image started rotating to bring it to a stop where Private could be found.

Immediately, as a flashing blue light appeared on the screen, Kowalski's face fell, and him and Eva shared a look. Skipper noticed this exchange, and became all the more worried. "Kowalski!" He barked. "Come on, spit it out!" He was now fidgeting and had one flipper curled up nervously. "Where is he?!"

"Skipper...he's...he's in..."

Private and Ruby walked flipper in flipper back to camp, arriving to what appeared to be a silent, empty area. He looked around and sighed, exchanging a worried glance with the penguin beside him. They took a few steps further, when suddenly, a short and scrawny penguin jumped out in front of them with a devious smirk and screeched, "Surprise!"

Private and Ruby watched in bewilderment at this strange spectacle in which the rest of the camp's inhabitants leaped out from various locations where they had been hiding. Shift approached the two of them slowly with a forced smile on his face. "Welcome back," he said breezily, pausing before adding, "lovebirds."

Private blinked rapidly in bewilderment and looked around him in surprise. Everybody was grinning and talking to one another- overall just having a good time. Private and Ruby were equally confused. "Uhm...what's...going on?" Ruby asked, her brow furrowing.

The penguin who had jumped out suddenly appeared again in front of them. "Well," he admitted, a mischievous gleam in his lilac blue eyes, "To be honest, I was out just taking a little nighttime stroll, and I happened to hear some of the conversation you two lovebirds were having."

Private gulped. _Oh bother….does that mean…? _Him and Ruby exchanged a quick, knowing glance. "Oh, did you now? And what exactly did you hear, Tom?" She asked him warily, a slight hint of skepticism itching into her tone.

Tom's smile shrank, but only a little. Suddenly, something in his stare seemed to darken as his expression grew ominously serious. Maybe Private was just reading too much into it, but...that smile he bared seemed so much different in its sincerity.

"Oh, you know," Tom replied softly, "Just that you two are...dating...now. I think I ambled by just quickly enough to hear a certain young female here saying, 'Let's go, boyfriend'. How very...romantic." Private gulped again. He didn't like the feeling this guy was giving him. Sure he said that's what he heard, and yet….something about the recent events had been changing Private's perspective. Maybe he really wasn't so naive anymore.

Ruby nodded. She felt a sense of relief sweep over her. Surely that must have been all he heard, right?

She looked at Private, and he looked back, instinctively clutching her flipper tighter in his. The look in his eyes was enough to confirm her true suspicions and renew her uncertainty.

Wrong.

Shift cleared his throat and crinkled his eyes in amusement. Something about seeing him appear so happy, so natural...it made him seem much less intimidating. Private scratched his head. _I really need to stop reading so much into everything._

"You see," Shift began, "We decided to throw this little party in your honor. Its also a warm welcoming party." He nodded at Private. "So go, enjoy yourselves. Mingle, have fun. When you're ready to call it a night, just come see me. I have an even bigger surprise for the two of you." He nodded his head and walked off. Ruby and Private just then noticed Tom had left as well.

"Well," Ruby said with a shrug, "We might as well enjoy ourselves a little, at least while we can."

Private sighed and looked away. "I dunno..."

"Come on!" Ruby grinned ad tugged insistently on his flipper. "We might as well make light of a sucky situation. What's the harm?"

He managed to muster a small smile. "Okay, you're right I suppose."

Ruby giggled and let out a breath of relief before adding, "Who knows, you might even make some friends."

Private's smile dissipated just as quickly as it had appeared. "I don't think I really want to be friends with such homophobic, closed-minded individuals," he muttered darkly. "I wanna go home...to my real friends."

"Fine then," Ruby eased, "Then I won't make you talk to anybody. Talk to me. If anyone asks, I'll just tell them we wanted some more alone time. They'll probably keep away. If you haven't noticed, the penguins here aren't exactly….open...to new things."

Private nodded, and let himself be dragged towards a cluster of small logs apparently available for seating. They weren't exactly at the edge of the camp, but they weren't near a whole lot of others. It seemed Ruby was right; they were staying away.

Private rubbed his flippers, shivering at the sudden chilly wind. He noticed Ruby staring at him and looked away awkwardly. They sat down together and she asked him hesitantly, "Are you cold?"

He nodded.

Ruby looked like she was about to say something. She opened her mouth but then closed it again. A few silent minutes passed before she finally spoke up again.

"So, tell me, do you have...anybody special waiting for you back home?"

Private looked up into the sky, smiling at the twinkle of silver stars he never got to see at the zoo. "Kinda," he murmured. He felt his feathers heat up a little bit. "I mean, not really though. I have one really really close friend, and sometimes it feels like there could be something….but I don't think it will ever be more than that."

He sighed and gazed out into space, searching for constellations in the star studded navy blue skies as his mind wandered into the furthest corners of contemplation.

However, Ruby apparently wasn't so satisfied with his answer. "Ooh, tell me more," she teased, lightly prodding him in the side. "I wanna know the details."

Private blushed a few shades darker, which was apparently noticeable (even through his pink feathers) if going by the stream of guffaws which came from the female beside him. "Well," he began, "You see…." He then sheepishly began explaining just what his friendship with Skipper was like. He talked about their life in the zoo, their usual routines, and even how Skipper was technically considered his "commanding officer." He slowly built more confidence ad started getting into the more intimate and even somewhat flirtatious or borderline romantic situations they had been in.

He told her about the times him and Skipper had cuddled, the times he had confided in him, and even when Skipper went to comfort him in the middle of the night. Of course, Ruby cooed and 'awed' in all the right places, resulting in a very vibrant shade of vermillion filling up Private's features.

"Nah," he said at one point, "I really don't think Skipper fancies me in that way. Besides...I'm his soldier."

"Nonsense!" Ruby exclaimed. "From what you've told me, he so obviously has some sort of feelings for you. And besides," she pointed out, "Even if he doesn't...'fancy' you, as you put it, I know for certain he cares about you very deeply. That in itself could actually develop into something. Do you know if he….you know, plays for your team?"

Private laughed at the expression and shook his head slowly. "I mean, he hasn't technically said it in so many words….but I think he does. Well, I mean, both teams actually. He did have a thing with this girl once, Marlene. But that ended almost faster than it started, and I definitively have caught him staring at Rico's butt more than once, so..." He laughed lightly.

Ruby giggled too and let a few more minutes pass before talking. "Well, at least you have all those things in your favor. It's kind of hard when you have a crush on somebody who won't even look at you twice."

Private looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean?" He queried. "Why wouldn't a guy here like you? And besides, I thought you made it pretty clear nobody else here is gay. Who is it you like?"

She turned and stared at him silently, her eyes boring holes into his soul. They brimmed with an intense mixture of longing, sadness, and restraint, and Private suddenly realized hat she meant.

"Oh." And they left it at that.

They actually ended up staying there quite a while, sharing stories and laughing, and overall? They had a pretty good time.

However, the cold was quickly becoming unbearable, especially to Private, who wasn't used to it considering he had lived much of his life in a zoo and never had a particular taste for cool weather. Besides that, they were both getting tired ad to be honest, Private still didn't completely feel at ease in his surroundings. He was looking forward to a bit of time alone to his thoughts.

They agreed to go and find Shift, but apparently they didn't need to, because he came to them.

"So, are you two ready to turn in for the night?" They both nodded quickly and he smiled slowly. "Then come with me."

They stood up and followed him to an area a bit outside of camp, slightly secluded from everybody else, with a lovely draping of branches and leaves covering the view. That is where they found an interesting little stone cavern, its entrance strewn and enveloped with beautiful and fragrant white gardenias. It was nicely spacious, and seemed cozy and warm on the inside.

"Wow," Ruby breathed. "It's breathtaking." Private just stood silently, staring in wondered curiosity. She turned towards Shift. "But I don't understand," she continued, furrowing her brow in confusion. "Why….did you take us here?"

He shrugged, his eyes twinkling. "I just figured you know, the new couple would want somewhere comfortable. You know, that re-population process? It really needs to get started as soon as possible." Both of the penguins flushed, and Private felt his world spinning. "That….won't be a problem, will it?" Shift asked. It may have been recognized for the slightly menacing challenge it was, but neither of them noticed.

"O-of course not," Ruby spluttered, grinning hugely and fakely. "But, you know, I'm not giving any details." Private could tell she was getting more and more flustered by the second, so he decided to jump in and spare her.

"Well, anyway, I don't mean to be rude, but me and Ruby here would like to get started on that mission as soon as possible." He awkwardly placed a flipper around his "girlfriend" and tried to muster up a grin.

Shift looked like he was contemplating the oddity of the scenario in front of him. He opened his beak to say something, but then decided against it and smiled. He turned, shaking his head, and called out behind him, "Goodnight, busy little bees. Have fun!"

As soon as he left, Private removed his flipper and breathed a sigh of relief. "Come on," he muttered. "Let's go to bed."

He grabbed Ruby's flipper and dragged her with him into the little cave, where they settled down, side by side, on a pile of comfortable moss and leaves. They stared up at the ceiling, silent. "What if they never come for me?" He suddenly blurted.

Ruby stared at him sadly. "I'm sure they will," she murmured, casting her eyes away when he met her gaze.

"Yeah, but, I dunno. What if they can't find me?"

She shrugged. "I don't know." She sighed before softly whispering, "I don't have anybody to save me."

He felt slightly guilty, and rolled over on his side to face her. She avoided his stare, so he simply wrapped his flippers around her body and held her tight. She gulped, fighting back tears. "It is rather cold in here," she kidded, attempting to lighten the mood.

He smiled. "G'night, Ruby."

She sighed and closed her eyes before responding, "Goodnight, Private."

Judging by the way her breathing slowed and grew steadier, he could tell she had fallen asleep within minutes. However, he could not stop thinking about his situation. He wasn't very comfortable, but didn't move in fear of disturbing Ruby.

Once again, the thought of having to repopulate with Ruby entered his mind. She was okay, but….His mind wandered back over to Skipper, and he sighed.

This was it; Private needed to go home- now.

* * *

**Next Time**

_**"Tell me, dammit! Just tell me where he is!"**_

**Private was dreading the rest of the day with a burning passion.**

_**"You know, folks might get suspicious when they realize there ain't no baby-making going on."**_

**He was starting to think there was more to this situation than meets the eye.**


	9. Chapter 9

Skipper was quickly becoming enraged at Kowalski's sudden silence. He walked hastily towards him, meanwhile shouting, "Tell me, dammit! Just tell me where he is!"

Kowalski spun around in his chair and gulped. "Alaska," he breathed. "Alaska, Skipper, Private's in Alaska," he repeated, louder and more clearly.

Skipper stopped dead in his tracks. "W-what?! Where in Alaska, soldier?!" He demanded, his tone sharp to hide the sudden impulsive fear he knew he could never show to his subordinates at a time like this.

This time it was Classified who answered; "Well, according to this list of pre-ordained suitable ecosystems in need of a habitat rehabilitation, there is only one aforementioned candidate that is located in Alaska. It is called 'Gates of the Arctic', National Park and Preserve." As he spoke, Eva managed to pull up their webpage, along with a map, and placed a marker indicating Private's approximate location. Skipper wondered if this sort of seamlessly efficient sort of banter and wordless communication took a frequent place in the North Winds' group dynamic. It certainly seemed that way.

Of course, he wouldn't tell them that. No. Flipping. Way.

"You see here," Classified pointed directly to the blinking green dot which apparently signaled Private's existence. "Here is our young penguin. Deep in the heart of Alaska." He turned his head to the owl. "Eva, see if you can get a closer view. According to the website's text, this wildlife preservation is filled with a variety of different terrains including mountains, forests, ad tundra. If we can pinpoint what kind of surroundings our young agent is being exposed to, then it will be much easier to find and retrieve."

Skipper smirked and managed to get out laughing, "I bet you're real good at retrieving, am I right?"

Classified's tail twitched and he let out an aggravated huff as his ears flattened to his head. "Not. Funny, small penguin."

Skipper laughed, and exchanged an exuberant high five with Rico before shrugging and responding nonchalantly, "Sorry, couldn't help it. I just had to."

Eva brought them all back to reality. "It appears the young penguin is in the middle of a very extensive boreal forest."

Sun beamed down on Private, and he yawned and stretched in his makeshift nest. Ruby was still sound asleep beside him, although he could tell it was already noon. He sighed and pulled himself up to his flippers. Something in his premonition told him that day was going to be long. Then again, most of his days were lately.

He strolled over to one side of the cave, and ran a flipper along the wall. The stone was cool and gray, with a few pale streaks etched into it. Having nothing better to do, he traced these lines along to the other end of the wall. That is, until he heard somebody coughing.

Private turned around abruptly to see Tom, the scrawny penguin from the night before, leaning against the cave entrance with a cocky smirk and his flippers folded neatly over his chest. Private gulped. When the other penguin didn't say anything, he let out a slightly shaky, "H-hullo?"

Tom smiled bigger. "That didn't sound very confident," he teased, before sidling up to Private until he was standing only about a foot apart. "Good morning to you too. Or should I say….Good afternoon?"

Private smiled cautiously. "Uhm, good morning….I don't mean to sound rude but….why are you here?"

Tom shrugged and crossed his flippers once again, that same smirk returning to his face. "I just wanted to give you a little advice."

"What kind of advice?"

Tom chuckled and responded, "You see, I know you know I heard some of that conversation between you and Ruby."

Private narrowed his eyes. He tried to sound and look confident ad tough, it always seemed to get Skipper the information he wanted. "Yeah, I know," he retorted, "And just what did you hear exactly?"

A mischievous gleam flashed through Tom's eyes, and he didn't answer. Finally, after a few minutes of silence, he continued, "Well, anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I just wanted to….warn you, in a way. I see you and Ruby are getting cozy." At this Private blushed. "But the thing is, it takes more than a little cuddling to really get anywhere. You know what I mean?"

Private's feathers suddenly bristled, and he felt unease creep into his voice as he asked him, "Are you stalking me or something?"

Tom shook his head. "No, I'm not stalking you. That was just a lucky assumption, actually. However, I'm not surprised to see that I'm right."

Private looked away. "And why did you assume that?"

"No reason to bother with right now."

Private was slowly becoming more and more agitated. This penguin seemed perfectly content to meddle in his life, yet he didn't seem to want to give him any other information in return. Rude.

Tom's voice suddenly broke the silence with an unfitting, mock country accent. "You know, folks might get suspicious when they realize there ain't no baby-making going on."

Private tensed. "What do you mean?" He snapped. But Tom was already leaving.

Just as he reached the doorway, he stopped, and looked back over his shoulder at him. "Goodbye," he said nonchalantly. The last two words were merely a breath, and Private had to strain to hear. "Innocent Private."

Ruby somehow managed to stay asleep during all of this. By the time she actually did wake up, Shift had brought over breakfast, and Private was already eating. He was hungry, okay?

Ruby stretched out on her back in the nest before pulling herself up and hobbling sleepily over to Private. He nodded at her, cramming another salty fish in his mouth as she sat down. They ate like that in silence for a while before Ruby said to him, "Good morning, Private."

"Good morning," he responded. "So, uh, what are the plans for today?"

Ruby finished swallowing her food before answering with, "Well, actually, I'm supposed to take you to meet my parents later."

Oh great, he thought as he stared blankly back at her. Just what I need. Private was dreading the rest of the day with a burning passion.

Give or take a few minutes, they headed out about an hour later. They hadn't really talked much that morning, but Private found out that Ruby's father was close friends with Shift, and him and her mother were very old-fashioned, "traditional view-point", type penguins. He was nervous to say the least.

They approached the camp with caution, and Ruby led Private to the den where her parents lived. "I grew up here," she told him as they neared the entrance. "Some time you'll have to tell me all about where you used to live." She smiled tentatively and he gave her a curt smile in return; his mind was elsewhere.

Her mom had prepared lunch for them all, which consisted of a tantalizing combination of grilled salmon, fresh heaps of fragrant blueberries, and some unidentifiable stew. Overall, to Private, it was delicious. Ruby's parents asked him a few questions here and there, but it really didn't turn out quite as bad as he thought it would be.

That is, until the end.

As all four of them sat together in a small room after cleaning up, they engaged in a relatively easy-flowing conversation. Suddenly, her father brought up a topic in which Private hadn't even thought of.

"So, I've been talking to Shift a lot lately….Of course, he thinks you two should be producing offspring as soon as possible. Obviously, although I feel a little uneasy about this considering this concerns my daughter, I suppose I have learned to accept that this is the best idea given our current situation. However, that doesn't necessarily mean I will be throwing all of my values out the windows here. Ruby, my lovely daughter. Private, my soon-to-be son-in-law, and winner of my precious daughter's heart…." Private had to force a smile here. "I would love to host for you a beautiful wedding. That way, you can then start the….e-hem, productive processes as soon as possible."

Private's throat constricted. He felt his breath lodge in his airways and tear a hole in his chest. He wanted to say something, anything, but his legs suddenly felt like lead and his beak suddenly seemed bolted shut. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This….this can't be happening.

Instead of mentioning any of his shortcomings out loud, he managed to fake a grin and a few other amicable pleasantries. He wasn't aware of any of it though, and he shifted into auto-pilot as his brain took on a life of its own, wandering and straying while his body shook flippers and exchanged hugs, took Ruby's flipper, and walked out the front entrance. He was only vaguely aware of her walking beside him as they returned to their "residence", and only half-listening to whatever she was saying. The only thought running through his mind now was "what do I do?"

When they returned, and he finally came to his senses, he found out from Ruby that the wedding was to be scheduled only a few days away. Two, to be precise. There would be the rest of the current day and the next to prepare. Then, that would be it. His wedding day. Not quite as he imagined it to one day be. He was suddenly finding this all to be more than a bit overwhelming, and decided to take a walk through the woods alone.

Of course, somewhere along the way, he ran into none other than Tom.

"What do you want?!" He fumed, glaring at the smirking penguin in front of him. "Why are you always following me?" Tom's bemused expression quickly turned into a surprised one as Private suddenly broke out into tears and hysterically started bawling right in front of him.

Not entirely sure what to do, Tom pulled the other penguin closer to him, pressing him against his warm, soft feathers. "There, there," he murmured. "I imagine things must be stressful for you lately. However, I actually came around to help this time. Ruby's parents have been spreading the word around that you two are to be married in only two days time. I realized then that this situation could be far more serious than it seems….In fact, there is somebody who I would like to direct you to. His name is Abernathy, and he leaves in the forest, far from the edge of the campsite. You could make it there by tomorrow around noon if you left this evening. He has some certain….information….that could pertain to your articular situation. You have questions, and I am near certain he has answers. I think you should go see him. I could take you if you like."

Private had finally stopped crying by the time Tom was finished speaking, the wailing noises he had been making now reduced to soft little snuffles.

"You….you would do that for me?" He backed away from the other and wiped his eyes, looking up at him.

Tom nodded.

"But….I don't understand why. I hardly even know you. Why would you help me? What do you know about me?" Private silently begged with his eyes; he needed to know, once and for all, just what Tom had heard last night.

Tom let out a sigh and scratched his head. "I know…." he said simply, his voice a little weak.

Private gulped. "My...my…." He couldn't get the right words out. "You know that I'm….that I'm…."

Tom nodded again.

"But….I thought everyone here h-hated us." Private took a deep breath. "Does that mean you support it….?"

There were a few moments of silence as Tom seemed to recollect himself. In what seemed like an instant, he was back to his usual confident, smug self. He approached the younger penguin with a slight swagger in his movement, and wore that usual cocky smirk all over his features. Private wasn't sure if he was relieved or confused.

Suddenly, though, the other penguin was standing a mere inches away from him, and before he knew it, was pushing him against a tree.

Private gasped as a warm flipper traced a slow line up the back of his leg, extending up over his thigh, and brushing past his rear. Tom leaned down to trail his beak up the side of Private's neck, eliciting shivers and a near silent moan. Private closed his eyes, not fully comprehending what was going on.

Tom slipped out his tongue, and began placing tender open-mouthed kissed back down Private's neck the same way he had just gone up. Private continued to shiver as little bolts of electricity raced back and forth across his spine. What is happening, what is happening. His mind barely processed the situation while his body reacted in a way he had never imagined possible.

He felt a strange tightness suddenly between his feathers and down below his waist. Tom trailed a flipper down his chest and stopped just short of his pelvis, lingering there for a few moments before continuing with his kisses. He gently nibbled on Private's collarbone before lining more gentle kisses all the way over his jawline and around his forehead. He finally brought his path down to the corner of Private's beak and paused. The uncertainty grew within Private's innocent mind. Is he-is he gonna k-k-kiss me?

He felt him move, and his heart skipped a beat, racing and pounding out crazy drum rhythms in his chest. The seconds seemed to go on for eternities and suddenly, just an instant before their beaks locked together, Tom pulled took a few steps back, leaving Private panting and flustered against a tree trunk.

Tom's eyes were darkened with lust, but of course, Private couldn't tell what that interesting and unfamiliar look was. He gulped, and stared at the ground in front of him, his feathers flaming. "Does that answer your question?" Tom finally uttered huskily, his voice newly deepened from desire.

Before Private could respond, Tom murmured again. "I'll meet you in the middle of camp at sunset. Be prepared." Private looked up. Just like that, he was gone. He found it hard to believe it wasn't all just his imagination. But it couldn't be, could it? He shook his head to clear it, suddenly pondering. Be prepared for what? The journey? Or….something else?

He was starting to think there was more to this situation than meets the eye.

* * *

**~*Next Time*~**

_**"We were secret lovers. He played the Romeo to my Juliet."**_

**A sense of shame washed over Private as he sat there in silence.**

_**"It doesn't matter what you think. It matters what you feel."**_

**The waterfall gushed serenely in the background, adding a calm sort of ambiance to this intimate situation.**


	10. Chapter 10

Private returned to the cave feeling slightly disgruntled and very hot and bothered. Ruby was sitting down in the middle of the room with her flippers crossed. She looked up at him as he entered. "And where have you been?" She questioned.

"Oh, just mucking about in the forest," he snapped. "And let me guess, you've been busy planning your dream wedding over there?" He stood in front of her, suddenly angry, and she stood up. "I've got news for you though, _Ruby, _I am _not _looking forward to this occasion in any way. This is never how I pictured my wedding, and I do not want to be married to you. I am sorry, but I do not love you, and I will never have any romantic feelings for you. Ever. And I am _not_ staying here. Even if I have to run away, there is no way I will waste away my life in this forsaken hunk of forest. I _don't_ belong here, Ruby. Can't you see that?"

She took a breath and stood up, a flash of hurt in her eyes. "Listen," she said quietly, "I know you're upset. But this isn't exactly the ideal situation for me either. I want to fall in love with somebody too. I dreamed my husband would at least love me."

He sighed and scratched his head, his anger ebbing away. There was awkward silence for a few moments. Finally, he broke it. "I'm leaving in a couple hours."

"What? Why? Are you running away?"

"No, I'm going to see...Abernathy. With Tom." Private turned away and walked to the other side of their cave to gather up some extra food he could bring along with him. He knelt down, feeling Ruby's dumbfounded stare locked onto his back. "He told me that this penguin could have some answers for me. I'm supposed to meet Tom at sunset."

As he was picking up some fruit, Ruby walked over to him. "You might not want to bring anything," she advised, shaking her head. "People would get suspicious if they saw you leaving with him….looking like you're going on some sort of trip. Leaving anyway would seem scandalous enough, but it wouldn't help leaving with a guy who half the village already questions."

Private stopped in his track and looked up at her. "What do you mean, questions?"

She looked surprised. "You know, I forgot. I still keep getting this weird feeling you've lived here much longer than you have."

He still looked confused. "That's right," she sighed. "You haven't had any time with most of the villagers, so you never had a chance to listen to the town gossip. Well," she leaned in close, her voice barely above a whisper now. "You see, a lot of the townsfolk think that Thomas-Tom, that is, might be gay. I'm not sure why, but as long as I've known there's always been suspicions. Of course, he's good friends with Shift. Abernathy too, strangely enough, considering Abernathy was exiled a long time ago. Anyway, nobody's ever had the balls enough to seriously accuse him of anything. Too afraid of the condescension from Shift, I suppose."

_Oh, the irony of this conversation._ Private thought numbly. _If only she knew. Probably better she doesn't though. _"Who...who exactly is Shift. Is he like the leader here or something? Like….like a commanding officer of some sorts?"

Ruby blinked and leaned away. "Well, no. Not exactly. Not officially anyway. Everybody here seems to see him that way though. He's respected greatly, so he might as well be like the mayor around here. Even though he denies it, everybody looks to him for the answers. He makes most of the major decisions. With voting also, of course. His father was the same way, I here. Well, his father actually was the mayor. He used that title with pride. Shift, though….he got rid of that position when his father died and passed it along to him. Said he didn't want to end up such a….Well, apparently his dad was very strict, and almost tyrannic. Basically, he wasn't an easy penguin to get along with. He didn't really like….anyone."

Private stared at her as she talked through her little monologue. _Interesting, _he thought. _I wonder who Abernathy was….And why he was evicted….Or exiled, I think she said. Hm? Oh, well, whatever. Who cares what word it was. Private, why are you talking to yourself? Oh, shut up, I think she's talking to you again!_

He looked outside the cave entrance from where he was and saw the sun was about to set. "Well," he interrupted. "I'd better get going. See you tomorrow Ruby."

He stood up and worry crossed her features. "You better not be late for our wedding," she teased lightly. However, her voice gave away the fact that she actually was concerned that might happen.

"Don't worry," he eased, placing a flipper on her shoulder. "I'll be back." He hurried to the opening, a cluster of berries in his flipper. He stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Uhm, if anybody….asks about me, will you cover for me?"

She nodded. "Of course. I'll just say you're preparing for….your half. Or maybe that you're….I don't know, uhm….Oh! I'll just tell them you're out getting a feel for the land around and making preparations for the honeymoon! After all, if you're going to live here, you need to be acquainted with the territory."

Private nodded. "Right, well, I'll be off then. Thanks, Ruby. Bye." He left and headed immediately towards the village's campsite. He ate a few of the berries along he way, feeling anxious. It took about ten minutes to get there, considering he was walking slowly. By the time he did, he had eaten half the berries and the sun was just starting to set. He looked around for Thomas, but couldn't find him, so he sat himself down on a bench.

Most of the other penguins were busy milling about and chatting. A few passing by kindly greeted him, but other than that, no one bothered him. In the five minutes it took Tom to show up, he had already eaten the rest of the berries. In fact, he was popping the last one into his mouth just as Tom showed up. "Sorry," he mumbled guiltily, his voice slightly muffled from the food. "I did bring these for the way there, but well…." He looked down at the barren cluster of stems in his flipper. "I got hungry…?"

Tom chuckled. He seemed to be in a good nature, at least. Then again, he usually did. He sat down carefully next to Private. "That's alright," he told him. "We'll find food on the way there." They sat in silence for a few minutes. "The sunset is lovely, isn't it?" He murmured, smirking and glancing at the slightly smaller penguin beside him. "Almost as lovely as you," he breathed. Private's feathers turned crimson. _Is the whole trip going to be like this? I'm not sure if I hate it…or if I love it._

He gulped and looked away. "D-Don't you think w-we should g-get going, then?" He stammered.

Tom nodded, and stood up, holding out his flipper. Private stared at him, eyes wide, before delicately slipping his soft flipper over his. "Come on," Tom said to him. *"Allons-y."

_*Didya catch the Dr Who reference? x) If you didn't, and you don't know what it means, Allons-y means "let's go" in French. If you are a fellow whovian, I was just watching Dr Who, and I was re-reading chapter nine, and for some reason Tom just kinda reminded me of the 10__th__doctor. I felt allons-y fit here._

* * *

On the way there the two of them didn't talk much. Well, actually, Thomas talked quite a lot, but Private wasn't really sure what to say. All he could think about the whole hour it took them to find the place, he couldn't stop thinking about the last time he had been in a forest….with Tom….

"Here we are!" Tom called out, suddenly lunging ahead of Private into a hanging screen of leaves and moss. Private followed him curiously. There was a small space which wasn't exactly a cave, but had the cover of an outcropping rock. In the corner, sitting beside a small clear pool of water, was an elderly looking penguin. Most of his feathers were gray. The ones that used to be white were even lighter gray; they almost appeared silver.

"Abernathy!" Tom greeted, approaching the older penguin with an easy grin. Private followed behind cautiously. This penguin looked as if he was around the same age as Shift. Perhaps they knew each other?

"Ah, hello there, Thomas." Abernathy smiled and accepted the offered hug before gesturing for him and Private to sit across the pond from him. "Who is your friend?"

"Oh, this is Private." Tom told him. "He's….seeking your help. I thought you could tell him your story….maybe give him some advice."

Something unexplainable flashed in Abernathy's eyes and he nodded before turning to look closely at Private. "What seems to be the matter, young Private?"

Private slowly explained his story, conveniently leaving out the fact that he was in love with one of his friends back home. He did tell him about his predicament with the wedding, with the re-population, and also with his issue of sexuality.

Abernathy smiled sadly when Private told him. "My heart goes out to you," he rumbled sympathetically. "I do not know if I will be able to really help you…." Private looked down in disappointment. "However," he continued. Private looked back up quickly. "I would be more than willing to share my story." He shared a glance with Thomas before beginning.

"You see, I've known about who I am for a very long time. I grew up just….knowing." He sighed. "I grew up side by side with Shift, your leader now. We were the absolute best of friends. I was an orphan. His father willingly took me in; he liked me. At the time being, that is. Of course, his father didn't know about my sexuality. Only Shift did. And he accepted me for it. It was his father who established the ordinance outlawing….homosexual relationships or actions of any kind. It was because of two males he found kissing. He then had them hanged….publicly. For all to see. Everybody had to watch; we didn't have a choice. Of course, I was still young. Only a teenager. I was devastated, heartbroken, and traumatized. Of course, Shift was there for me. He kept my secret, and comforted me. Told me it was all going to be okay."

Abernathy closed his eyes. "Then there was that one fateful day…." He opened them again. "We were older, young adults. And I had fallen desperately, head over heels in love, with my best friend- Shift. It was the most amazing feeling in the whole world. We were the best of friends. Oh yes, so so very close, we were. Yet, at the same time, it was terrifying. I was so, so afraid that he would find out, and that he would hate me for it….in my head there was no way he could feel the same. Besides, he was already promised to another. He was engaged to be married. But one day, he was so stressed out about it. I thought it was simply because it was arranged, and he didn't know her that well. Or that it was re-wedding anxiety. Questioning it all, you know? I was wrong."

_Shift paced back and forth in his room, flippers over his head. He felt like he was going mad. He was so stressed lately, he could hardly hear himself think. There were so many emotions, and so many feelings all running through his brain. He couldn't tell them apart really. He had only one certainty._

_Abernathy walked inside and closed the door behind him. He rushed over to his friend and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug, rubbing his back comfortingly. "Shh, shh, there there. It will all be alright. I'm sure you and Christina will be just fine. Maybe you don't love her now, but in time I assure you, you will. This is probably just the normal pre-wedding jitters anyway."_

_Shift pulled away and looked up at him sadly. "No, no, don't you see? I don't love her and I never will….Because….I am in love with somebody else."_

_Abernathy's heart drummed madly in his chest and he searched his best friend's eyes hastily. "Who?" His breath was hardly a whisper as his pulse thrummed on and on like an awakened drumbeat. (can you hear the drums, whovians?) Suddenly, Shift closed the distance, and their beaks were pressed together. An electric tingle raced all the way through their spines and into each other, as if they were suddenly bound together by some mystical energy._

Private stared at Abernathy in awe as he recounted this event. He continued, "From then on, we were secret lovers. He played the Romeo to my Juliet. Except, we lived together, and his dad was rarely present. Our months together were filled with days of joy and nights of endless passion. He stirred my heart and awakened my body in a way nobody ever has before. I'd like to believe I did the same. We were inseparable- even more so than before." He let out a weak, shuddering breath. "We were soulmates."

Private's heart clenched and he looked at Tom, who was already staring at him with an intense gaze of longing and….who knows what else? Private didn't. He looked away, embarrassed, and listened as Abernathy continued.

"We were happy. That is, until a certain unplanned night….His father was supposed to be away from home for a couple of days. But he came home early and decided to surprise us...He barged into Shift's room when he got home, while him and I were on the floor, kissing each other. I swear, he nearly had an epileptic fit. He immediately kicked me out….for good. He didn't punish his son, but rescheduled the wedding for sooner, and kicked me out of the village. Of course he didn't tell anybody why, so as not to shame his son. He would have tortured and killed me….like he did with so many others, but then he would have had to reveal that his son was also gay, and he would undergo the same treatment. Me and Shift….we never even got to say goodbye. Of course, by the sounds of it, Shift instills the same rules and….well, I know he has become hardened. Maybe he is not quite as bad as his father was, but he is still a changed penguin. He is the rightful ruler now. He could have changed the laws; he could have brought me back, or at the very least come to visit. But no." Abernathy paused, and there was a few moments of silence. Finally he resumed.

"Don't get me wrong. I have no resentment for him. I still love Shift with every fiber of my being, in every depth of my heart. I always will, until the day I die." He sighed. "I just hope he never forgets that."

Private felt a tear drip from the corner of his pale blue eye down his cheek and allowed Tom to wipe it away for him. He looked up at Abernathy desperately. "Please," he begged. "Please, you have to help me."

He shook his head sadly, his own eyes glistening. "I am sorry, young Private...There is nothing I can do to help."

"Please! Couldn't you just...just go and talk to him? He would listen to you, I think!" Private pleaded, his eyes huge now.

Abernathy just continued to shake his head. "I am afraid not," he sighed. "He wouldn't." His voice was barely audible. "I am so so sorry for your predicament, young Private, but there is nothing I can do. Perhaps it would be best for you to just live out your life here...maybe it will be a lie, but that is better than isolation...Go now….and good luck…."

Private gulped, tears now freely running down his face, and did exactly what Abernathy said. He left.

* * *

*****Warning****_**There is a mature scene coming up soon depicting mature content between two males consisting of a lot of kissing/touching/oral. No penetration, but aforementioned content included*You can skip if it makes you uncomfortable, but some of the in-between dialogue and thoughts are important to plot and story.*****_

A sense of shame washed over Private as he sat there in silence. Him and Tom had found a cozy little den not too far from where Abernathy lived and decided to settle down there for the night. There was a lovely little pond with a beautiful waterfall pouring into it right outside the entrance. Currently, Private was seated at its edge, his feet dangling just above the crystal blue waters.

He felt ashamed because when hearing Abernathy's story, his seemed refreshing in comparison. He couldn't help think he was such a fool; surely there was no hope yet.

He heard Thomas approaching him from behind, and didn't bother looking up. He continued staring at his reflection even as the other penguin sat right beside him. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" He commented. Private finally looked at Tom, who was staring at the waterfall. His eyes seemed distant, and so full of emotion and a sense of almost...destitute nature. Tom turned to meet his gaze and sadly smiled.

Finally, Private couldn't contain it any longer. "Why did you kiss me earlier?" He asked bluntly.

Thomas blinked in confusion before realizing what he was talking about. When he did, his eyes became blank and he sighed before shaking his head in befuddlement. "I don't know what it is about you, Private….but something about you makes me feel like I am falling in love….all the time." Private gulped, and suddenly, Tom was leaning in.

Their beaks locked together softly, and Tom wrapped his flippers around the smaller penguin. He moved his mouth against, flippers running across Private's chest. Private shivered, and found himself pushing into the kiss. He flung his own flippers around Thomas's neck, pulling him down closer as sparks flew between the two.

Suddenly, Tom pulled away, his eyes sad, stood up, and walked back into the cave. Private hurriedly climbed to his feet and followed. "Tom!" He cried out. He approached him and spun him around to face him. "Thomas, what is it? What's wrong?"

"You don't love me," Tom whispered, cupping a flipper over Private's face and smiling sadly. "You love somebody else; I can see it in your eyes. You don't want me, you want him. Whoever the lucky man is."

Private shook his head. "Maybe Abernathy is right," he choked out. "Maybe I should just stay here and live a quiet, normal life...with Ruby...and you...Maybe I should just..." Silent tears fell from his eyes and his voice cracked.

"Shh! No," Tom urged, putting a flipper over Private's beak. "You mustn't say those things. You can never say those things, Private. You can't give up. Please, Private, promise me you will never give up."

Private shook his head and frowned, more liquid seeping from luminescent baby blue pearls. "I think," he breathed, "It would be easier for me and everybody else to just stay here. I think it would be easier…." His voice seemed to muffle out to a halt, and he leaned into Thomas's comforting touch. Tom drew away his flipper and grabbed both of Private's.

"It doesn't matter what you think," Thomas whispered. "It matters what you feel."

Private stared more deeply into his eyes. "And right now," Private gushed. "I feel that right now, I am here, and you are here. Nobody else is here, right here, right now, but you and me. And I feel that right here, right now, I want to kiss you..." His voice was silky, and it made Tom's heart melt, stop, and shake all at once.

Private pulled Tom to him, placing a velvety kiss on the corner of his beak before connecting their mouths. Finally, Tom threw his inhibitions out the window, and wrapped his flippers around Private's waist. He led him to the wall, pushing Private up against it. He pressed his tongue against his beak, begging for entrance. Private permitted it. He felt around the roof and sides of Private's tongue before colliding it with the other tongue.

He brought his flipper up the side of Private's leg, tracing patterns over his thigh and brushing just barely across his tail feathers. Their tongues now engaged in a fierce battle for dominance….That is, Private tried to somewhat control Tom's, but ended up just giving in and letting the other penguin take the lead.

With every touch, Private's feathers flamed brighter than they were before. Little jolts of electricity crawled up his spine and his legs. Tom broke away from the kiss only to say something. "It's time to pick up from where I left off last time." His voice was husky and low. His already dark eyes were darker with lust and arousal, almost black in color now.

He pressed his beak to the side of Private's neck, and Private leaned his head back to allow further access. His head was spinning, his legs were weak, and his lungs felt just about ready to collapse. His breath was coming in heavier and heavier, as if he had just run a marathon. He could feel himself starting to harden already. _What is that?_ He wondered. _That's never happened before._

Thomas trailed his beak all the way up Private's neck, ruffling the feathers in a way that made Private have to bite back a moan. He slowly dragged his other flipper up to Private's rear and started stroking his tail feathers. Private did moan this time, his whole body shivering and strange erotic sensations wracking his whole body with pleasure.

Tom opened his beak and slipped out his tongue, dragging down the way he came up until he reached his collarbone. Private wriggled beneath him and Thomas continued, lining up tender open-mouthed kisses all the way along his collarbone. He then moved to the front of his neck, and started nibbling just at the very base. One flipper came up to the nape of Private's neck and stayed there, cupped against the warm feathers.

Suddenly, Private felt himself being pushed onto the cave floor, and Tom was climbing on top of him. He felt his face flush and Tom stared down at him, breath heaving. Private pressed a flipper softly against Thomas's chest. "I-Ive never d-done anything like this before," he admitted in between gasps. "I don't think I'm ready to actually….well, uhm, you know, do the….umm."

Tom chuckled and swept his flipper across Private's face. "That's quite alright," he assured. "I find it adorable, actually….I find you, adorable…."

For an instant, Private pictured Skipper. _Skippah…._ What would Skipper think, if he saw this? Private blushed. _Well, that would be awkward if it was anybody watching this. But, still…..if he knew…. _He gulped. _Stop thinking about that and just enjoy._

Thomas kept staring down at him. "Are you ready?" He murmured. Private nodded, and he lowered his head. He carefully began lining a path of kisses horizontally along his chest. Private gasped at the sudden contact, his mind racing. He closed his eyes, and suddenly, he was thinking about Skipper….

Tom swirled his tongue through the other penguin's feathers, and ran his flippers up to grab Private's. He rubbed them gently and continued downward. His beak ran down Private's stomach and lower abdomen. Private moaned loudly, bucking his hips involuntarily upwards. Tom glanced up, and thought about how deliciously sexy it looked to him when he did this. Private was still thinking about Skipper.

Tom slowly ran both flippers down Private's body and brought them hesitantly down to his pelvis. Private gasped as his erection slipped out of its sheath, and Thomas smirked at the sight of it while blushing. Private squirmed a little, his whole body feeling on fire as he quivered. Tom touched it with just the edge of his flipper and smoothly ran it along his entire length.

Private was now giving out heaving gasps as his whole body convulsed suddenly in a quake of new, intense pleasure and desire.

Thomas used his other flipper to touch the bottom, sliding it up and down very slowly. He was now rubbing both sides of Private's member, soft flippers brushing in opposite ways, gradually picking up speed.

_What is this what is this what is what is what is what is what what what what what what what what. _Those were the thoughts echoing through Private's skull as he gasped and heaved on the floor. In his mind, he saw Skipper there, touching him….kissing him….pleasuring him….And he felt dreadfully guilty.

In an instant, Thomas was nudging Private with his beak, and sliding his tongue all the way across. He made him endure a few more rough strokes as he continued to pulse and harden. He then slipped him into his mouth and continued.

Private cried out, opening his eyes finally as Thomas proceeded to engage him. He felt the scraping, the licking, the sucking, the blowing. He felt every slight and exaggerated movement of Tom's jaw, and he felt the pressure of his member bulging and pleading for release. This felt like insanity to him.

And yet, the waterfall gushed serenely in the background, adding a calm sort of ambiance to this intimate situation.

Finally, he purged himself just after Tom let him out. He lay there, gasping and shaking, as Tom pulled himself back up. His flippers began tracing every line, every inch, every tense quivering spot on Private's tired body. He kissed his forehead, and wrapped him up in his embrace.

Private closed his eyes, and returned the hug. They lay there in silence. He wasn't aware of anything going on until just before he fell asleep, when his brain dreampt its last conscious thought.

_I wish it was Skippah._

* * *

***Next Time***

**_"Maybe you regret what happened between us, but I don't."_**

**Private was beginning to wonder if he even knew what love was at all.**

**_"That was then. This is now. And you have made a very bad mistake here today."_**

**The world stood still as his soul whispered 'goodbye.'**

_Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! And that little scene, eh? Don't worry...Pripper is still and will always be endgame. ;) I know...it was semi painful to write...because, it was honestly not at all what I planned. I did plan for the moment in the last chapter, when Tom confirmed Private's suspicions, and showed him why he was helping him...But originally I had planned for that to be a one time thing and for nothing to be between them at all afterwards xD. I don't know, sometimes when you're a writer, the characters sorta take a life of their own and string you along to events and reactions in your story that you yourself didn't even expect to happen. Well, anyway, thanks for reading and please leave a review! It really helps, with morale especially. :)_

_xx~xCicix_


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